AAA Mid-Atlantic projects 1.6 million Pennsylvanians will travel at least 50 miles from home between Wednesday and Sunday. That's a slight increase over last year.

Brian Conrad and friends got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Monroeville, en route to Philadelphia, trying to beat the rush: "I'm expecting it to be rather busy, and we have an estimated time about 5 1/2 hours."

Meanwhile, the night before Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the year's most popular for drinking.

Pennsylvania State Police say they are stepping up enforcement -- including sobriety checkpoints, speed traps and other measures -- for the five-day Thanksgiving travel period.

Travelers at the downtown Greyhound bus station on Grant Street were unhappy with delays. Adam Nation, of Lawrenceville, called it "a complete and utter disaster. They are completely not prepared for the volume of people that are trying to access their service."

"They don't have enough buses for all the people they've sold tickets to, apparently, and they're trying to find buses and drivers," Rich Mateusnak said. "It's kind of a mess."

Across the street, it was empty at the Amtrak station, where trains only run through Pittsburgh in the early morning and later at night. Marisa Flemming bought a ticket and said she likes traveling by the rails: "It's cheaper that way, and it saves time from driving."

Air traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport is expected to be slightly down overall. Travelers reported long security lines early Wednesday, but the wait eased a bit after the morning peak hours.

"It was actually busier than I thought at security," said Rachel Woods, flying home from Boston to visit the North Side. "There was a really long line, but it moves really quickly. And obviously, a lot of people are flying home for the holidays today and trying to get in for Thanksgiving and see their families, so I expected it to be a little crowded."